Search Results (17)

In recent years, rapid economic development, increasing human activities, and global climate change have led to escalating demands for land across production, residential, and ecological domains. This surge has heightened land use conflicts, significantly impacting sustainable land utilization and regional sustainable development. Drawing upon the “Production–Ecological–Living Space” (PELS) theory, this study employs a Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model to project the PELS of the Harbin–Changchun Urban Agglomeration (HCUA) under four scenarios for 2030. Introducing the concepts of absolute and relative conflicts in land use, this study utilizes a spatial comprehensive conflict index (SCCI) model to assess the progression of absolute conflicts from 2000 to 2020 and across various scenarios for 2030, while a remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) model is utilized to evaluate the evolution of relative conflicts from 2000 to 2020. The results indicate the following: (1) From 2000 to 2020 and different scenarios in 2030, the PELS of the HCUA is dominated by forest ecological space (E1) and agricultural production space (P1), with no substantial alterations in the overall spatial distribution of the PELS. (2) Absolute and relative conflicts between 2000 and 2020 are mainly concentrated in the plains of the western regions, characterized by conflicts arising from the encroachment of living space on production space; however, absolute conflicts have declined annually, accompanied by a notable enhancement in ecological quality. (3) The spatial pattern of absolute conflicts in 2030 exhibits minimal variation, illustrating higher values in the western regions compared to the eastern parts, with living space surpassing ecological space and plains showing higher conflict values than mountains. Notably, the economic development (ED) scenario exhibits the most intense conflicts, with areas of high conflict prevailing, whereas the sustainable development goals (SDGs) scenario depicts enhancements in absolute conflicts while maintaining equilibrium between economic and ecological development requirements. This research offers valuable insights into mitigating land use conflicts in the HCUA, provides a new perspective for studying changes in land use conflicts, and serves as a scientific reference for sustainable land utilization and regional sustainable development. Full article

The reconstruction of land spatial planning and the increasing severity of carbon emissions pose significant challenges to carbon peak and carbon neutrality strategies. To establish low-carbon and sustainable agricultural spatial planning while achieving dual carbon strategy goals, it is essential to accurately analyze the mechanisms of agricultural spatial transfer and their carbon emission effects, as well as the key factors influencing carbon emissions from agricultural spatial transfer. Therefore, this study, based on land use remote sensing data from 2000 to 2020, proposes a carbon emission accounting system for agricultural space transfer. The carbon emission total from agricultural space transfer in the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration over the 20-year period is calculated using the carbon emission coefficient method. Additionally, the spatiotemporal patterns and influencing factors are analyzed using the standard deviation ellipse method and the geographical detector model. The results indicate that: (1) The agricultural space in the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration has increased, with a reduction in living space and an expansion of production space. Among land type conversions, the conversion between cultivated land and forest land has been the most intense. (2) The conversion of agricultural space to grassland and built-up land has been the primary source of net carbon emissions. The carbon emission center has shown a migration path characterized by “eastward movement and southward progression,” with a high-north to low-south distribution pattern. Significant carbon emission differences were observed at different spatial scales. (3) Natural environmental factors dominate the carbon emissions from agricultural space transfer, while socioeconomic and policy factors act as driving forces. Elevation is the primary factor influencing carbon emissions from agricultural space transfer. Interactions between factors generally exhibit nonlinear enhancement, with the interaction between elevation, annual precipitation, and industrial structure showing a strong explanatory power. Notably, the interactions between elevation, average annual precipitation, and industrial structure demonstrate significant explanatory power. These findings highlight the necessity for government action to balance agricultural spatial use with ecological protection and economic development, thereby providing scientific references for optimizing future land spatial structures and formulating regional carbon balance policies. Full article

Urban agglomerations represent the pinnacle of spatial organization for fully developed cities. Gaining insight into the ecosystem health status of urban agglomerations in various geographical and temporal settings is essential for the long-term sustainability of both humans and the environment. Nevertheless, current research overlooks the impacts of human activities on the well-being of ecosystems, along with the effects of scaling and their implications for ecological management policies and future urban growth plans. This study enhances and refines the classic model and establishes the Vigor Organization Resilience Services Human activities (VOR-SH) evaluation model to assess the ecosystem health of the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration on three scales. The results reveal that the changes in the five indicators of ecosystem health within the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration differed across three unique periods from 2000 to 2020. In particular, energy, organization and human activities increased, whereas resilience and ecosystem services decreased. On all three scales, the overall ratings for ecosystem health showed improvement. Multi-scale spatial autocorrelation showed strong positive spatial correlations between ecosystem health clusters in the studied area. Multi-scale review results help locate key regions on a grid scale, coordinate regional management at the district-county scale and monitor huge ecosystems at the city scale. This study improves the ecosystem health model and expands multi-scale regulatory theory. This study’s findings help guide urban expansion and environmental management. Full article

An urban agglomeration is a growth pole of regional development. However, the land uses have changed significantly due to the impacts of intense human activities. Analyzing the overall change characteristics of land use and hotspots has direct reference value for the formulation and implementation of land use management measures. This study used a complex network of analysis methods and a cluster and outlier analysis to study the land use changes and hotspots in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration (HCUA). The results showed that farmland exhibited a high weighted degree of centrality, indicating that it is the key land type in the HCUA land use change network. From 1990 to 2000, the land use change in each city mainly manifested as the loss of ecological land, whereas from 2000 to 2010 it manifested as the restoration of ecological land. From 1990 to 2020, the average path length of the network in 11 cities was less than 1.4, which was reduced in 10 cities, indicating that the stability weakened and land use change more likely occurred. Specifically, the area of ecological land reduction hotspots gradually decreased from 15,237.81 km² to 11,533.95 km². In the ecological land concentration area, the change hotspots for ecological land use and ecological function had strong consistency. The distribution and changes of hotspots were affected by policies and the terrain. The increase in ecological land around urban built-up areas, however, did not improve the landscape connectivity. Therefore, in the planning of ecological land use, attention should be paid to the landscape pattern. Full article

Quantifying the urban supply and demand of carbon sequestration services is an important prerequisite for achieving global carbon neutrality goals. However, the spatiotemporal patterns for balancing the supply and demand of carbon sequestration services in urban agglomerations remain unclear. In this study, NPP/VIIRS nighttime light data were used to identify the carbon sequestration service demand and were then combined with the carbon sequestration service supply to analyze the spatiotemporal patterns of supply and demand for carbon sequestration services in the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration (HCUA) in Northeast China. Our results indicate that both the supply and demand of carbon sequestration services showed increasing trends from 2012 to 2020 in the HCUA. The regions with increasing supply and demand trends were mainly located in the eastern mountainous and western urban areas, respectively. The total supply and demand of carbon sequestration services in the HCUA were 2080.3 Mt·C yr⁻¹ and 433.6 Mt·C yr⁻¹, respectively. Carbon surpluses (supply > demand) were found in most areas (98%), although particularly in the southeastern mountainous region. However, with rapid urbanization, in most cities, the supply–demand ratio decreased from 2012 to 2020, and the proportion of carbon deficit regions showed a continuous increase, which was mainly distributed in newly developed urban areas. The low supply–high demand (L-H) pattern showed significant spatial mismatching for supply and demand in the HCUA. The proportion of regions with the L-H pattern also showed a rapidly increasing trend from 2012 to 2020, indicating a more obvious carbon deficit trend in the future. This study provides important guidelines for formulating effective policies for energy consumption and carbon sequestration to combat global warming under China’s rapid urbanization. Full article

With the rapid development of China’s economy, the process of industrialization and urbanization is accelerating, and environmental pollution is becoming more and more serious. The urban agglomerations (UAs) are the fastest growing economy and are also areas with serious air pollution. Based on the monthly mean PM_2.5 concentration data of 20 UAs in China from 2015 to 2019, the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of PM_2.5 were analyzed in UAs. The effects of natural and social factors on PM_2.5 concentrations in 20 UAs were quantified using the geographic detector. The results showed that (1) most UAs in China showed the most severe pollution in winter and the least in summer. Seasonal differences were most significant in the Central Henan and Central Shanxi UAs. However, the PM_2.5 was highest in March in the central Yunnan UA, and the Harbin-Changchun and mid-southern Liaoning UAs had the highest PM_2.5 in October. (2) The highest PM_2.5 concentrations were located in northern China, with an overall decreasing trend of pollution. Among them, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, central Shanxi, central Henan, and Shandong Peninsula UAs had the highest concentrations of PM_2.5. Although most of the UAs had severe pollution in winter, the central Yunnan, Beibu Gulf, and the West Coast of the Strait UAs had lower PM_2.5 concentrations in winter. These areas are mountainous, have high temperatures, and are subject to land and sea breezes, which makes the pollutants more conducive to diffusion. (3) In most UAs, socioeconomic factors such as social electricity consumption, car ownership, and the use of foreign investment are the main factors affecting PM_2.5 concentration. However, PM_2.5 in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are chiefly influenced by natural factors such as temperature and precipitation. Full article

Regional economic efficiency and resilience are necessary conditions for sustainable regional economic development, and urban agglomerations are the core carriers of regional economic development. Exploring the synergistic patterns between economic efficiency and economic resilience is crucial to the sustainable economic growth and development of urban agglomerations and their surrounding regions. To measure the economic efficiency, economic resilience, and synergistic capacity of the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration from 2010 to 2019, the super-efficient SBM model, the entropy-TOPSIS model, and the Haken model are used. The economic efficiency of the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration shows a mild upward trend between 2010 and 2019, while its economic resilience shows a more stable upward trend. A distinct phased pattern of synergies exists between economic efficiency and economic resilience. In terms of the time trend, a “down-up-down” pattern emerges, while in terms of the spatial pattern, a dumbbell-shaped structure appears with “highs at the north and south and lows in the middle.” Combined synergy values are highest in the north and south of Qiqihar, Jilin, Siping, Liaoyuan, and Mudanjiang, followed by Harbin and Changchun; the values are lowest in the middle of Suihua, Daqing, and Songyuan. This study also proposes strategies to weaken inter-regional differentiation and to increase economic efficiency and economic resilience across cities in accordance with the actual situation. Full article

Air pollution endangers human health and sustainable socio-economic development, especially in urban agglomeration (UA). The Chinese government has implemented a series of policies and standards to improve air quality. However, few studies have compared variations in PM_2.5 concentrations across multiple UAs, and current research often lacks analysis relative to the clean air policies implemented by the government. In this study, we used econometric and geostatistical methods to assess the distribution and spatial evolution of PM_2.5 concentrations in five UAs (the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei UA (BTHUA), middle reaches of the Yangtze River UA (MYRUA), Chengdu–Chongqing UA (CCUA), Harbin Changchun UA (HCUA), and Beibu Gulf UA (BGUA)) in China from 2000 to 2021 to explore the effectiveness of the clean air policies implemented by the government on air pollution control, to analyze the ambient air quality of UAs, and to make recommendations for public outdoor activities. The results indicated that the clean air policy implemented by the Chinese government in 2013 achieved significant treatment results. PM_2.5 concentrations were plotted as an inverted U-shaped curve based on time, which showed an upward trend before 2013 and a downward trend after 2013. PM_2.5 concentrations showed a similar seasonal pattern, with a single-valley “V” shape. PM_2.5 concentration was the highest in winter and the lowest in summer. The PM_2.5 concentration of HCUA and BGUA was lower than that of CCUA, MYRUA, and BTHUA. The increase in PM_2.5 concentration mainly occurred in autumn and winter, while the decrease mainly occurred in spring. In 2021, the PM_2.5 air quality compliance rates (<35 µg/m³) in BTHUA, MYRUA, CCUA, HCUA, and BGUA were 44.57%, 80.00%, 82.04%, 99.74%, and 100%, respectively. However, in 2021, 19.19% of the five UAs still had an ambient air quality of Grade II (i.e., 50 < AQI_PM2.5 < 100). People with abnormally sensitive breathing in these areas should reduce their outdoor activities. These results contribute to epidemiological studies on human health and disease prevention and suggest reasonable pathways by which governments can improve air quality through sustainable urban planning. Full article

With the rapid development of urbanization and the widening gap between urban and rural areas, how to effectively enhance the balanced development of urban and rural areas as well as promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas have become heated topics. Based on the basic theory of urban–rural integration and spatial balance, this paper establishes a comprehensive evaluation system. Using a coupling coordination model and an obstacle degree model, this paper selects 32 indicators from aspects of economy, society and ecology to measure the development level of urban–rural integration in 34 prefecture-level cities in Northeast China from 2000 to 2019. We also analyze the spatial pattern, evolution type characteristics and obstacle factors of urban–rural relations. The results show that: (1) The growth rate of urban development in Northeast China is higher than that of rural development. Except for rural ecology, all dimensions of urban and rural areas have increased year by year, but there are large spatial differences within the region. (2) The urban–rural integration development level of Northeast China is growing constantly and the types of urban and rural coordination are all rising to a higher level. Areas with high urban–rural coordination levels are concentrated in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration and the central and southern Liaoning urban agglomeration, with obvious agglomeration effects. (3) In the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, the restrictive degree of the rural social subsystem was higher than that of the urban subsystem. The restrictive factors in the coordinated development of urban and rural areas are relatively stable, and include per capita consumption expenditure, per capita public budget expenditure, books in public libraries per thousand people, etc. (4) The functions of rural social elements should be enhanced, and the social urban–rural integrated development mechanism should be established to promote the integrated development of urban and rural society. Full article

Urban agglomeration is a new carrier of regional economic development, whose spatial structure can be reflected by the transportation system. The coordination between urban economic development and the transportation system is conducive to promoting balanced urban economic development. As an important urban cluster of China, the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration plays an important role in promoting the revitalization of northeast China. Targeting 11 cities of the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration, this paper adopts the coupling coordination degree model to study the coordination level of urban economic development and the transportation system. The results show that large differences exist among the cities, with Changchun at the outstanding position. A more developed transportation system exists in the western Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration, while the east is in a worse condition. The coupling coordination degree of the urban economic development and transportation system shows obvious stratification. Further adjusting the industrial structure, expanding the degree of opening to the outside world, and increasing investment in transportation technological innovation are recommended to promote an integrated development pattern in the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration. Full article

With the rapid development of economy and urbanization acceleration, ozone (O₃) pollution has become the main factor of urban air pollution in China after particulate matter. In this study, 90th percentile of maximum daily average (MDA) 8 h O₃ (O₃-8h-90per) and PM_2.5 data from the Tracking Air Pollution in China (TAP) dataset were used to determine the mean annual, seasonal, monthly, and interannual distribution of O₃-8h-90per and PM_2.5 concentrations in Northeast China (NEC). The O₃-8h-90per concentration was highest in Liaoning (>100 μg/m³), whereas the highest PM_2.5 concentration was observed mainly in urban areas of central Liaoning and the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration (approximately 60 μg/m³). The O₃-8h-90per concentrations were highest in spring and summer due to more intense solar radiation. On the contrary, the PM_2.5 concentration increased considerably in winter influenced by anthropogenic activities. In May and June, the highest monthly mean O₃-8h-90per concentrations were observed in central and western Liaoning, about 170–180 μg/m³, while the PM_2.5 concentrations were the highest in January, February, and December, approximately 100 μg/m³. The annual mean O₃-8h-90per concentration in NEC showed an increasing trend, while the PM_2.5 concentration exhibited an annual decline. By 2020, the annual mean O₃-8h-90per concentration in southern Liaoning had increased considerably, reaching 120–130 μg/m³. From the perspective of city levels, PM_2.5 and O₃-8h-90per also showed an opposite variation trend in the 35 cities of NEC. The reduced tropospheric NO₂ column is consistent with the decreasing trend of the interannual PM_2.5, while the increased surface temperature could be the main meteorological factor affecting the O₃-8h-90per concentration in NEC. The results of this study enable a comprehensive understanding of the regional and climatological O₃-8h-90per and PM_2.5 distribution at distinct spatial and temporal scales in NEC. Full article

This study constructs a framework for evaluating urban spatial resilience based on five dimensions: scale, intensity, morphology, function, and benefit. Likewise, it empirically analyzes the spatial differences and influencing factors of urban spatial resilience in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration from 2000 to 2020. Overall, the spatial resilience of the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration declined from 2000 to 2019. In addition, its ability to resist external disturbances weakened. The five dimensions of spatial resilience declined. However, urban spatial morphological resilience slightly increased. The spatial diversity of the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration is obvious, implying that the spatial resilience of cities in the central region, mainly in Suihua and Songyuan, is higher than in peripheral areas of the urban agglomeration, mostly in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Siping, and Qiqihar. The period between 2000 and 2019 was dominated by cities with fluctuating spatial resilience. Furthermore, urban spatial resilience is influenced by a combination of factors, with economic support being the primary one. The selection of the urban spatial resilience research index system in this study is more spatially oriented and more accurately reflects the urban spatial resilience situation, which, in turn, provides a new planning perspective for urban planning in China. Full article

China has clearly put forward the strategic goals of reaching the “Carbon Emission Peak” by 2030, and achieving “Carbon Neutrality” by 2060. To achieve these goals, it is necessary to precisely understand the spatial distribution characteristics of historical carbon emissions in different regions. This paper has selected a representative national-level urban agglomeration in China, the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration, to study the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of carbon emissions in its counties. This paper has constructed global and local Moran’s I indexes for the 103 counties in this urban agglomeration by using the carbon emission values reflected by night light data from 1997 to 2017 to perform global and local autocorrelation analysis on a spatial level. The results show that: (1) the main characteristic of carbon emission clustering in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration is similar clustering; (2) the changes in carbon emissions of the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration have a strong correlation with relevant policies. For example, due to the impact of the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” policies, in 2013, the global county-level Moran’s I index of the carbon emissions in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration decreased by 0.0598; (3) the areas where high carbon emission values cluster together (“High–High Cluster”) and low carbon emission values cluster together (“Low–Low Cluster”) in the Harbin–Changchun urban agglomeration are highly concentrated, and the clusters are closely related to the development level of different regions. Full article

Economic development and ecological restoration guided by policies has had a profound impact on the relationship between ecosystem service supply and consumption in the past few decades. Exploring the relationship in specific study areas is necessary to support regional planning for sustainability. In this study, we analyzed the equilibrium relationship between ecosystem service supply and consumption driven by economic development and ecological restoration from 1995 to 2018 in Northeast China. We quantified the supply and consumption of three critical ecosystem services, food production, water yield and atmospheric regulation, and identified the main areas for supply and consumption of ecosystem services. We measured the quantity and spatial equilibrium relationship between ecosystem service supply and consumption driven by economic development and ecological restoration at economic megaregion scale. We found the new industrial structure shaped by regional economic development policies formed the new ecosystem service consumer demand. The development of agricultural industry not only resulted in the increase of water consumption, but also the scope of water consumption was expanded in Northeast China. The development of tertiary industry causes the change of atmospheric regulation consumption in urban agglomeration. What’s more, economic development exacerbated imbalances in the supply and consumption of ecosystem services. The unbalanced areas where food supply was less than consumption were in the clusters of Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, and coastal cities. Since food products can circulate freely through the market, this imbalance will not fundamentally affect regional food security, but will improve the level of agricultural industrialization and scale. The implementation of the grain economic policy caused the rapid expansion of unbalanced areas where water supply was less than consumption. The incredible space mismatch between the supply and consumption of ecosystem services still exists for a long time. However, the implementation of the ecological restoration didn’t effectively solve the problem of insatiable ecosystem service consumption. The ecosystem service consumption brought by economic development need to be given the utmost attention when formulating ecological restoration policies and economic development policies. The results can provide insights for enhancing economic sustainability in northeast china, as well other economic megaregion with similar characteristics throughout the world. Full article

Land comprehensive carrying capacity (LCCC) reflects the limits of urban development that the land ground in the spatial area can bear under the constraints of society, economy, resources, and environment. An accurate and objective evaluation of LCCC is of great significance to the rational planning of urban space. Using the entropy method to obtain the weights of evaluation indexes, this study constructed an index system composed of four subsystems, i.e., urban construction (UC), social economy (SE), industry development (ID), and urban ecology (UE). Furthermore, calculating the index of 11 cities for the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration (HCUA) to analyze the influence of LCCC from diverse dimensions for the period 2004–2015. Lastly, the spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics between the neighboring units of LCCC were visualized through global and local spatial analysis. The results infer some novel findings as follows. (1) The overall tendency of the LCCC of the HCUA has gradually increased over the time window with the coordination of each subsystem. The urban ecological subsystem shows the highest rate of contribution and the social economy subsystem has the largest increase. Urban construction and industry development have a lower number of hot spot cities and lower clustering characteristics than social economy and urban ecology. (2) The core cities of the HCUA, Changchun and Harbin, demonstrate the reverse trend from 2010 to 2015, which reveals the states of excellent and good carrying capacity, respectively. In contrast, four cities are at the inferior state, and three cities are poor. Prioritizing the promotion of the industry development subsystem should be considered for these seven cities. (3) There is some spatial variation of LCCC in the HCUA, which shows the characteristic of “gradually decreasing from the core city to the surrounding area”. Changchun and Jilin are high–high clustering areas that drive Siping from a cold spot to a hot spot. Focusing on the development of secondary growth pole cities, Jilin and Songyuan are forming complementary and mutual reinforcement with the core cities, which has a positive significance in promoting the sustainable development of the regional space of urban agglomeration. Full article